America in Bloom
Planting Pride in Your Community 

 
Photo Credit
Shipshewana, Indiana 
2010 Floral Displays Criteria Award Winner
AIB Winners Celebrated for Planting Pride

Criteria Award Winners
These eight awards are based on feedback received from the teams of judges on outstanding efforts they witnessed during their summer of judging across America. These criteria awards, announced earlier this month, only go to one community among ALL the AIB entrants across ALL population categories. Click here to see what communities excelled in each of the eight judging criteria. 

Population Category Award Winners
Communities from all regions of the country competed in seven distinct population categories for top honors. The winners were announced at the recent AIB Symposium and Awards Program. Click here to see how the communities performed.

YouTube Video Contest Winners
Some of America's finest cities jumped at the chance to show off what participating in America in Bloom has done for them. View the $500 cash prize winner and the finalists on America in Bloom's web site. 

John R. Holmes III Community Champion Award
This award recognizes an individual, from an AIB community, who exemplifies community leadership and has demonstrated a vision and selfless commitment to moving the community forward. There were 13 dedicated volunteers nominated for the 2010 award. Click here to see the 2010 Community Champion Award Winner.
Replanting New Orleans

As part of New Orleans' recovery from the damages caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the city's Redevelopment Authority (NORA) is helping residents turn blighted properties into greenspace.

The Growing Home Program started last year as an offshoot of another city initiative, called Lot Next Door, that gives homeowners living next to blighted properties the first right of refusal to buy the lots. If they pledge to turn the lots into gardens and yards within nine months, residents can get discounts of up to $10,000 off the cost of the lots, depending on their landscaping plans.

Since Growing Home launched in February 2009, hundreds of residents have participated, creating community vegetable gardens, flower gardens, rain gardens and backyard retreats, and generally beautifying once-neglected land. Read the full article.

 
Horticulture Effective Solution to Rising Urban Poor

By 2025, more than half the developing world's population - an estimated 3.5 billion people - will be urban. For policy makers and urban planners in poor countries, greener cities could be the key to ensuring safe and nutritious food, sustainable livelihoods, and healthier communities.

The challenge is to steer urbanization from its current, unsustainable path, toward greener cities that offer their inhabitants choice, opportunity, and hope. One solution is urban and peri-urban horticulture, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

"Urban horticulture offers a pathway out of poverty," says Dr. Pandy, Director of FAO's Plant Production and Protection Division, citing its low start-up costs, short production cycles, and high yields per unit of time, land, and water. Read the full article.
Largest Living Wall Unveiled

Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, can pat themselves on the back on Earth Day next year, even if they choose not to pull out the shovels and saplings.

Without digging a single hole they unveiled the largest living wall in North America. The 4,072 sq. ft. vegetative surface is the heavy-weight champion in the living wall world, taking the title from the PNC Bank building in Pittsburgh, whose planted surfaces are 70% smaller than Longwood Gardens'. Take a photo tour of Longwood's living wall and photos of living walls in Korea and Canada.
New Youth Garden Award

The "I Can Grow" Award, new for 2011, supports urban school and community gardens in cities across the United States. Winners will get up to 500 vegetable and herb plants from Burpee Home Gardens, as well as $2,500 in garden supplies, on-site garden layout and installation assistance, Daniels Plant Food, and a Flip camera to document their progress.

Educators and community garden leaders can visit America in Bloom's Grant Opportunities page for more information. The deadline for this award is December 3, so visit the web site soon!
It's about Dollar$ and Sense - And About the Explanation
By Marvin Miller, AIB President

Graduate students and student teachers alike often say they really didn't know a topic well until they were forced to explain it out loud to others. Certainly, I can attest that I wished I had experienced classroom teaching before I took my qualifying exams decades ago rather than after, as the exercise really helped me to understand the subject better than my student notes or textbooks ever could.

In a similar vein, explaining a program can help overcome both one's insecurity as to the value of the program itself and signal the need to bolster the explanation of benefits going forward.  Read more.
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Featured Stewards
 

Full list of current and founding stewards

Find America in Bloom on the web at www.americainbloom.org.
 
Have a story to share? We would love to hear from you! Tell us about AIB activities in your community, or let us know about a community you have visited that should get involved with AIB. E-mail your story to Laura Kunkle, LKunkle@ofa.org.